


Poker Face

by FaithAndATypeWriter



Series: The Great Pretender Series [5]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bets, Consequences, Don't Lie About Jagged Stone, F/M, Lies, Lila salt, Salt, mentions of bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:55:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22314409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaithAndATypeWriter/pseuds/FaithAndATypeWriter
Summary: Adrien was either the perfect pawn in Lila's schemes or the greatest thorn in her side.  Lila knew how to play the game so everything went exactly her own way, but Adrien was becoming a wildcard that she couldn't predict...
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: The Great Pretender Series [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1382692
Comments: 69
Kudos: 2289





	Poker Face

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little idea I had that I thought was fun. If you're waiting for an update on The String That Binds Us, it will be coming even though it's rather delayed.
> 
> I have to say, I can see the point some people have about the flaws in Adrien's highroad approach, but I think the kid deserves some slack. He doesn't know about Lila's threats, and to be fair, he is following through with consequences when Lila hurts people he cares about like Nathalie, his bodyguard, and Marinette. Though, I worry what will come of the fact that Marinette doesn't know it was Adrien's doing that got Lila to reverse the expulsion....
> 
> Hope you enjoy! As always, if you or someone you know is being bullied or treated in a way that you are unsure of, I encourage you to seek help from someone (preferably an adult) that you trust.

“It was incredible!” Lila exclaimed with a smile. “Jagged has been so encouraging and supportive of my music! I may not be able to play anymore due to my arthritis, but he was so sweet to incorporate my guitar riffs into his new single!”

Marinette’s eyes bugged out and she looked almost puce as she opened her mouth to say something. An elbow nudged her from the side and Marinette jumped before pouting at Adrien. He simply raised an eyebrow at her and subtly shook his head. Marinette sighed in exasperation before slumping into her seat.

Lila frowned. Normally, Adrien covering for her would be a good thing, however he was becoming somewhat of a wildcard and she wasn’t sure what to make of him.

On the surface, Adrien seemed like the perfect pawn. He came from family money _and_ he was his own celebrity with credits for modeling, voice acting, and appearances on shows and music videos. Adrien was even an athlete and accomplished musician. He would be the perfect tool to boost Lila’s status and she already had his father in her pocket.

Many labeled him as non-confrontational, but she knew he just preferred to confront issues privately and discreetly. Lila knew he was taking some kind of highroad approach to her lies. She thought that would make her plans easier to accomplish, but then he turned around and made good about his claim that he wouldn’t let her hurt “the people he cared about.” Yuk. First, he stopped agreeing to help her after she got that secretary and the giant man in trouble, but at least that gained her the connection to Gabriel Agreste. Then, he pulled that little “friendship” pressure on her to get Marinette back in class. She didn’t know why the secretary didn’t stop that. 

That one complicated things more…

Now, Adrien was an unpredictable player in her game. He was either helping her by stopping Marinette from poking holes into her stories or intercepting her attempts to ruin the girl.

Each and every attempt Lila made to discredit the girl or break her spirit, Adrien would be there with a sweet, sly smile. “Oh dear, Lila! Your disease seems to be acting up again. Maybe we should go talk to the nurse or Principal Damocles about finding ways to cope while you’re having a spike. Maybe we could call your mom and brainstorm on ways we can help?”

She nearly bit his head off for that one. If he wasn’t outright blocking her schemes, he was doing repair work. Lila “accidentally” dropped her coffee on Marinette’s purse? Adrien offered to have it professionally cleaned and--bonus!--this gave him an excuse to give her a designer purse he found that reminded him of her. After all he, “hesitated giving it to her before because her purse design was beautiful and he didn’t want to offend her.”

Once, Lila had made reservations for the class at a nice cafe for lunch and “accidentally” misspelled Marinette’s email on the group invite. Adrien apparently noticed and made reservations at _Le Grand Paris_ on the same day and time as a thank-you lunch for just him and Marinette after she came dressed as a superfan to one of his big fencing tournaments. He even posted selfies of them that had all the class cooing over his caption: “celebrating my fencing win with my lucky charm!”

Lila couldn’t figure it out and it was driving her mad! There was obviously some tension between Marinette and Adrien every time he kept her from outing Lila. Could she use this as a means to drive the two further apart? It was tempting but it seemed too obvious. With how unpredictable Adrien had been, this could be just the thing he was waiting for to use against her.

Still, Lila was hoping to goad Marinette into bursting out into a fit of outraged disapproval of her lies. If Adrien was determined to let Lila be, then that might drive a wedge in between the two, and with the added bonus of alienating Marinette from their classmates for hurting Lila’s feelings.

For the past week, Lila had been focusing her efforts on one of the topics Marinette seemed to be the most irate with: Jagged Stone. Somehow, those stories seemed to drive Marinette up the wall and everyday Lila came to class with a new, exciting--

“Lila Rossi?”

The class collectively turned to the door where a woman was waiting next to Principal Damocles. A very nervous looking Principal Damocles.

Mr. Damocles cleared his throat. “Lila, I need to see you in my office.”  
  


The class all shared looks of confusion and intrigue. Lila wasn’t sure what to make of this new person. Mr. Damocles? She was sure she could handle him. But who was this new woman?

“Is something wrong, sir?” Lila put one hand on her cheek and the other grasped Rose’s sympathetic hand.

Mr. Damocles frowned, but it was the woman who answered. “I suggest, young lady, that it would be in your benefit to continue this conversation in your principal’s office.”

Lila almost gulped. She did cringe when some of her more boisterous classmates came to her defense.

“We’re Lila’s friends,” Kim said, “If you’ve got something to say to her, we should be there to support her.”

“Yeah! She doesn’t even have her mom in the city, since she’s away on a diplomatic mission to Brussels.” Alya added.

“Yeah, Dude--sir! I meant sir!” Nino added. “Way too many kids get akumatized after being sent to their principal’s office. We want to be there to support her.”

Mr. Damocles was casting looks between the students and the woman, obviously nervous. The woman, on the other hand, just rolled her eyes. More offers of emotional support kept popping up across the room, so much so that Lila couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

“Very well,” the woman said. “Ms. Rossi, do you consent to discussing the matter in front of your classmates?”

So many pairs of smiling, _annoyingly supportive_ eyes were turned on her that Lila had no choice but to stutter, “Y-yes…”

“My name is Octavia Rodriguez,” Ms. Rodriguez said as she stepped forward. “I am a lawyer representing Jagged Stone and Stone-Rolling Records.” she gave Lila an envelope. “You have been served.”

The class--or most of them--gasped.

“What?” Lila ripped the envelope out of the woman’s hands and started tearing through it.

“I would have delivered this to you in private and in the presence of your parent or guardian,” Ms Rodriguez went on, “but there appears to be a mistake in the contact information of your school records. Your recorded address is actually nonexistent and the number listed as your mother’s is actually your personal cell number.”

Lila smiled nervously. “There was a mix up with the phone company. My mother is a very busy woman, but if you send her an email or leave her a voice message she will get back to you promptly.”

Ms. Rodriguez frowned. “If I cannot liaise directly with either your mother or another guardian I will be forced to take appropriate measures.”

“Lila,” Mr. Damocles cleared his throat twice before finding his voice, “we are very concerned that we cannot contact your mother. I’m afraid if you are unable to provide any means of having your mother either here in person or directly talk to her on the phone, then Ms. Rodriguez is insisting we contact Child Protective Services.”  
  


“What?” Lila screeched. “That’s ridiculous!”

“I would say it’s long overdue.” Ms. Rodriguez replied curtly. “According to your records, your mother has been unavailable for conference with your principal and teachers on multiple occasions, her contact information is invalid, and your address has been falsified. My legal team has already attempted to reach you and your mother outside of the school, to no avail. Even in this case where you are in legal distress, the school was unable to reach any of your emergency contacts. Add this to the claims of your exploits that my team discovered while researching this case, and there is more than enough suspicious activity to warrant an investigation.”

Everyone watched in absolute shock. Lila felt like her heart had stopped and she couldn’t think of a way out of this while saving face.

“I-I…” Lila trailed off, pulling the legal documents to her chest as she caught Alya frowning at them over her shoulder.

“Ms. Rossi,” Mr. Damocles said, “do you have any method of _successfully_ contacting your mother?”

Lila stared at him for a moment before giving in and nodding,

“Then I suggest you do so.” Mr. Damocles gestured out the door. “We can all convene in my office.”

Lila didn’t look at anyone as she scooped up her belongings and hurried out the door. Ms. Rodriguez and Mr. Damocles followed, after he announced that Ms. Mendeleiev would be arriving in a few moments to cover for Ms. Bustier who’d already been summoned to his office.

As Lila was marched away, she had to wonder where she’d gone wrong? Everything was going her way and she was playing her game perfectly! Where was her fatal miscalculation?

  
  


*****

  
  


No one said a word. Not a single person could _say_ a word. Alya had seen enough to know Lila was being sued by Jagged Stone for slander and plagiarism but she couldn’t get together the words to inform the others.

While everyone else was in shock, laughter and a cry of triumph came from the most unlikely source possible: Adrien.

“Ha! Told you it be a legal scandal!” Adrien turned and smirked at Marinette. “Pay up, buttercup!”

“Hey, I had today down in the pool _and_ I was right that she falsified her contact information!” Marinette argued.

“Sure.” Adrien nodded his head sarcastically. “And I’m sure you _didn’t_ send Jagged Stone the links for the videos Nino and the others posted where Lila claimed she wrote his riffs. And I’m sure there’s _no way_ you asked him to serve papers on this specific day.”

Marinette pouted and grumbled. “Fine. I’ll have the stupid macaroons--”

Adrien gasped dramatically. “Macaroons?! Stupid?! Marinette, what did they ever do to you?!”

Marinette glared at him and said through gritted teeth, “I’ll have the macaroons after lunch.”

Adrien perked up and smiled brightly. “Passion fruit?”

“Duh! Don’t you think I know you, like, at all?!” Marinette cried indignantly.

“What in the crepe suzette is going on here?” Nino exclaimed.

Adrien smirked at their friends--which they all found jarring and deeply, disturbingly unexpected from him--while Marinette continued pouting.

“Marinette and I had a bet going to see how long it would take for Lila to out herself and how it would happen.” Adrien explained joyfully.

Their classmates finally found their voices and exploded into outraged blustering.

“Dude! You knew? Not cool!” Nino shouted over the din.

Marinette rolled her eyes. “You guys were determined to believe what you wanted--there was no talking you out of it--so Adrien and I decided to at least have some fun while we waited for it to fall apart.”

Alya was openly gaping at them. “B-but...why didn’t you try to stop us?”

“Marinette did.” Adrien pointed out. “All her attempts only backfired on her, so why should we keep beating our heads against the same metaphorical wall?”

“I-I…” Alya’s mind was reeling. “What if we’d gotten in trouble for something she said?”

Adrien dismissed her concern with a wave of his hand. “We took care of that. Lila had it out for Marinette and has been threatening her--I know, infuriating, but we can come back to that later. I watched out for Marinette and stopped Lila’s schemes before she could do any damage. Remember when Lila got her expelled? And yes, that was all Lila. Yeah, since then. You guys got the condensed version of the excuse she gave Damocles--you should have heard the sob story she made up!

“I did the same for you guys, too--you know, like with the Ladyblog?” Adrien reminded. “Alya, you wanted to post that ‘exclusive’ Lila gave you about Ladybug being Jagged Stone’s secret love child? And I convinced you that even if it was true that it was private, sensitive information Lila didn’t have the right to divulge and that it could endanger people with Hawkmoth?”

Alya paled.

“Yeah, definitely sidestepped a lawsuit there.” Adrien said seriously.

“She threatened to turn you all against me.” Marinette said quietly. “Adrien agreed to take point in keeping her from going too far because you all stopped taking me seriously whenever something involved Lila. Personally, if our friendship was so fragile that she could so easily tear it down then I wasn’t interested in it. But Adrien was always there as the voice of reason to combat her rumors and sabotage and remind you all of what you already knew to be true about me. The bet was his idea, to keep our waiting game fun.”

Alya looked like she might be sick as Lila’s machinations became clear in retrospect. The rest of their friends also seemed to be going through a shamed, grieving process. Adrien’s snort startled them all over again.

“You better believe it!” Adrien crowed with glinting eyes. “Even if you did try to cheat the system!”

“Huh?” Kim asked.

Marinette crossed her arms and gave Adrien the stink eye. Adrien tried not to laugh too hard at the adorable sight.

“Every time one of the days Marinette bet on came up, she tried to poke holes in Lila’s lies.” Adrien said smugly. “I only stopped her because one of the conditions of the bet was to see when it blew up in Lila’s face _naturally_ , without our interference. Of course, my guard duty to keep her from going too far was completely fair game.”

Nino looked at Adrien flatly. “You’ve been laughing at us for weeks, haven’t you?”

“Months!” Marinette chimed in, suddenly chipper.

Adrien chuckled, unrepentant. “It was almost as entertaining as our bet about when you guys would finally figure out Marinette and I are dating!”

Several strangled gasps filled the room.

“Adrien!” Marinette cried, indignantly.

“Oops.” Adrien cringed. “Okay, that one was my bad. So...you bring the macaroons and Andre’s ice cream is on me?”

“What?!” Alya yelled.

**Author's Note:**

> If you were wondering, I made up Stone-Rolling Records as an idea that Jagged and Penny go into business together and bypass people like Bob Roth.
> 
> Thank you for reading, blessings!  
> ~FaithAndATypeWriter


End file.
